NEWS ANALYSIS: SA faces long haul — and long odds — in undoing state capture
Not everybody who deserves to go to jail is going to go. That is not a uniquely South African phenomenon
Tackling the corruption that marred Jacob Zuma’s tenure as president may drag on for years, with no guarantees of successful prosecutions or recouping billions of rand pilfered from the state. The government’s ability to halt state capture and return looted funds will be a key test for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s drive to restore the trust of the electorate and investors in public institutions. About R100bn may have been stolen, according to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. A high-powered judicial panel led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, which was initially supposed to sit for six months, says it needs at least two years to expose wrongdoing — and it lacks the power to arrest anyone or seize assets. Those tasks will fall to a police force and prosecution service that have been gutted of senior staff over recent years and have had a dismal record in securing convictions of the rich and powerful. "The sheer scope of the challenge facing the state capture investigati...
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